#&. verse. five sodding years of work ( eitc. )

[trickstercaptain]

@harringtontm sent a meme: ❛ can’t you see it? how wonderful it would be if you came with me? ❜

       One of the true perks of captaincy — aside from the title, of course — was personal space. For the first time in his seafaring career, Jack had an entire cabin with which to do as he pleased. He could personalise the walls, as he had already done, with periwinkle paint and a pink trim that only to his eyes looked like a vibrant, Caribbean sunset, keep trinkets he'd acquired from ports all around the world and stretch out in a bunk instead of sleeping in a hammock surrounded by the snores of grizzled old men. Sharing that space had not even been a hypothetical to enter his mind, and yet Steve had been in this bunk more nights than not, as of late. Enough for the crew to probably notice. Enough that Jack didn't rightly care. Illuminated by the evening candlelight as Steve currently was, Jack considered himself a very lucky man — even in spite of the odd invitation being extended to him tonight.

       Sat on the bed, Jack inclined his head towards his companion, a crease forming across his brow. “ I can see me watching every eligible young lady in town vie for your attention all evening while their expectant mothers finalise the dowrys. ” Surely that fact hadn't changed in the months since the governor's son had been away. Yet the persistence in Steve's gaze seemed to imply he wasn't going to back down easily. With a groan, Jack dramatically flopped back onto the bed. “ Are you really sure this is a good idea? I don't know the first thing about how to act at a ball. ” And sure, he could probably pretend, but he didn't really want to.

[trickstercaptain]

CANON VERSES.

young protége

Living in the shadow of the Keeper of the Code isn’t easy for the young Jack Sparrow, particularly when he’s left to fend for himself in the pirate haven of Shipwreck Cove and dismissed for his ambitions to one day command a ship of his own. He wants more than anything to leave the island, and his life, behind, conflicted as to whether piracy is really his true calling, but it is the arrival of a charming French captain that eventually forces Jack into a decision that will unintentionally change his life.

This verse covers Jack's upbringing on Shipwreck Cove, up until the age of twenty, and the Shipwreck flashbacks in The Price of Freedom. I primarily draw upon canon established in this novel, however I also take inspiration from Sins of the Father, one of the Young Jack series. I do not consider any of the other Young Jack books as part of my canon. As far as the flashback scene in DMTNT goes, I do incorporate it, but altered under certain conditions detailed in my DMTNT verse.

five sodding years of work

Press-ganged into the crew of La Vipère after being betrayed by friend and rogue pirate Christophe de Rapièr, Jack knows he cannot return to Shipwreck Cove without facing death for breaking the Pirate's Code. After escaping from the rogue ship, he and fellow crewman Robby Greene sign on to the East India Trading Company, working their way up the ranks as merchant sailors until Jack is offered captaincy of the Wicked Wench by the EITC Director for West Africa, Cutler Beckett.

This verse covers the roughly five year period of Jack's employment in the East India Trading Company. He is hiding his piratical past and playing a very convincing role of a law-abiding merchant sailor, so unless plotted otherwise, your muse should not recognise him as a former pirate.

freedom isn’t free. it comes with the highest of costs

Now branded a pirate and having lost his soul in order to raise the newly rechristened Black Pearl from the depths, Captain Jack Sparrow finally has everything he ever wanted. He’s a pirate, a captain and finally able to forge a legend that will be immortalised for centuries to come. However, that all changes when he begins searching for a way to find the long lost Aztec treasure of Cortez with his first mate, Hector Barbossa. This verse covers the two years of Jack's initial captaincy of the Black Pearl, up until Barbossa's mutiny.

a hard learned lesson it was

Betrayed and marooned on a deserted island after giving up the bearings to the fabled Isla de Muerta, with naught but a pistol with a single shot, Jack's spirit is hardened by revenge. After three days, he barters with rumrunners for passage out of his misery, but the path to regaining his ship is a long one, and he is still intent on living his life in the interim. This verse covers the ten year period prior to Curse of the Black Pearl. Jack does not have his beloved ship in his possession at this time, however that does not necessarily mean that he is ship-less.

the opportune moment

Arriving in Port Royal on the sinking Jolly Mon, fates align and, thanks to a blacksmith and a governor's daughter, Jack finds himself with the perfect leverage to secure his stolen Pearl from the hands of his mutinous and now-cursed first mate. His only issue, it turns out, are said blacksmith and governor's daughter and the small matter of the curse that needs to be lifted. This verse covers the entirety of Curse of the Black Pearl.

what bodes ill

Now reunited with his beloved Black Pearl, Jack knows all will be for naught unless he can find a way out of the soul debt he struck with Davy Jones thirteen years prior. Vexed and bearing a compass that no longer seems to work, Jack begins a desperate search for the dead man’s chest to use as leverage, or else be damned to the depths of the Locker for eternity should his time run out. This verse covers the period from the end of Curse of the Black Pearl through to Jack's death at the end of Dead Man's Chest.

close your eyes and pretend it’s all a bad dream

Returned from the land of the dead and determined not to end up there again, Jack resolves that the only way he can survive is to stab the heart of Davy Jones, thus becoming immortal and sailing the seas forever. However, while he's been gone, the Brethren Court has called all nine Pirate Lords to a convene in a meeting at Shipwreck Cove, while Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones have joined forces to take over the seas and rid them of piracy forever. This verse covers the majority of At World's End, following Jack's rescue from the Locker.

a pirate’s life for me

Following the destruction of the Endeavour, Cutler Beckett’s death and victory of the pirates over the Armada, Captain Jack Sparrow returns to his pirating ways, still seeking immortality after sacrificing his chance at stabbing the heart of Davy Jones so that Will Turner could live. When interacting with Jack, this functions as my DEFAULT VERSE: any unspecified canon threads will default to this point in his timeline.

Unless specified for a particular thread, I will ignore the very end of At World's End and Jack will STILL have the Black Pearl in his possession.

home is wherever you are

Canonically sticking to the end of At World’s End, with Elizabeth going on to bear Will a son, Henry, after he sails away on the Flying Dutchman to carry out his duty for ten years at a time. With the absence of a father in the young Henry Turner’s life, Jack slowly and unconsciously begins to fill that gap through his visits to Shipwreck Cove, which in turn become more and more frequent as he develops a bond with a boy he comes to think of as a son in all but name.

This verse leads directly into my DMTNT-era verse, set nineteen years later, and assumes a familiarity with Henry that is not present in the movie itself.

our sands be all but run

After hearing word that his first mate, Joshamee Gibbs, is being tried for his own crimes in London, Jack mounts a daring rescue attempt -- and ends up embroiled in a venture by none other than Edward Teach to locate and covet the spoils of the Fountain of Youth. In the process, he is reunited with not only an old flame, but his beloved ship, magically trapped into a bottle.

This verse encompasses the entirety of On Stranger Tides and the years afterwards, prior to Dead Men Tell No Tales, as well as any AUs where Jack is seeking the Fountain of Youth.

bad luck dogs you day and night

After a series of near-disasters culminate in the release of Captain Salazar from the Devil’s Triangle ( a once famed pirate hunter now cursed and out for Jack’s blood for trapping him in the first place ), Jack must team up with his stepson, Henry Turner, and the female astronomer Carina Smyth if he hopes to find the Trident of Poseidon – an object with the power to break all curses in the sea. Due to the issues I have with the continuity and characterisation of Jack in this movie, there are a number of alterations to canon detailed HERE.

beyond my beloved horizon

With both his ship and luck finally restored, and a family reunited on land, Captain Jack Sparrow has everything he needs to repair his shattered reputation once and for all. The only thing left is for him to figure out what to do with his simian namesake, now in need of a new master.

Just as a note, this is NOT my default verse.

[trickstercaptain]

@harringtontm sent a meme: sleep. it's all right. i'll keep watch.

       It was the first time he'd stopped to take a breath in at least four hours, maybe more. If he hadn't been up and down ladders, ensuring that hatches had indeed been battened down and that none of the torrential rain or ship-sized waves had pierced the hull, he was at the helm barking orders or in his cabin consulting his detailed, annotated charts. He couldn't afford to stop, particularly after nearly taking a tumble over the side of the ship ( after a rogue wave struck the Wicked Wench at an unexpected angle ), or else this would happen: he'd lean against the rail, his feet and legs would protest at the prospect of moving so much as another inch, and his eyes would slowly drift shut.

       Fortunately he did not get so far as to actually drift off, brought back to attention as Jack was by the sound of a soft voice beside him. He opened his eyes to the sight of Steve Harrington, looking as wet and bedraggled as he probably did — but he couldn't quite stop looking at him. It was still raining, even though the storm had passed, and Jack had to acknowledge that the distracting way in which the water clung to Steve's shirt was a sign, if he'd needed one, that he'd been at sea far too long.

      ��“ I'm fine. I'll manage a little longer. At least until the rain stops. ” Jack flashed what he hoped was a reassuring, grateful smile. Yet it wasn't just how Steve looked that was playing on his mind in that moment; it was the lightning fast way in which he'd jumped to attention and caught Jack before toppling over the side of the railing; it was the way he'd seen him helping out the other hands and mates on board in spite of his lack of experience; it was the stunning amount of maturity he'd displayed over the past few hours. Not even now, as the danger subsided, had Jack heard a single complaint from that direction.

       “ Thank you. ” He deserved to hear it. As much as Jack enjoyed the thrill of a good squall, it was always a taxing affair — even more so as a captain. “ Were it not for you, I'd be over the side right now wishing I'd grown a tail and fins. ” Jack smiled again, more teasingly this time. “ Turns out you're not so bad at this after all. ”

[trickstercaptain]

@harringtontm sent a meme:  ❝ i’m cold. & it’s indoors. this is so wrong. ❞ — steve !

       Ah yes. The ship’s brat. Jack wouldn’t readily admit it ---- especially not to his face, the boy was insufferable ---- but he did almost feel bad for him. With a rich father who’d effectively bought his way into Beckett’s good graces, and therefore his son a one-way ticket out of port for a few years to better himself, or something magnanimous along those lines ( and really, what more effective way was there to better him than giving him a role on a ship when he’d clearly never stepped foot on one in his life ), it hadn’t seemed like he’d had much choice in this unfortunate affair of moping about his ship at all. Still, there was only so much patience Jack possessed, particularly with this being his first command and his first attempt to really prove to Cutler Beckett that he’d made the right decision, and his reserve of sympathy continued to dwindle with every instance of complaining he heard from Harrington’s general direction.

       He glanced at Steve, moodily attempting to pull his threadbare coat tighter around him, before surveying the lower deck and its numerous open gun ports. “ You might wind up missing the cold once we reach warmer waters and you produce enough sweat to replace our fresh water supplies. ” It was definitely cooler in this strait but, to a man who had lived most of his life and grown up in the tropics, this was what he’d call a pleasant temperature. “ In the meantime, Harrington, you can always ask to snuggle up with one of your crewmates on their hammock. ” He heard a couple of barks of laughter from behind him, and couldn’t smother his smirk any longer. “ I don’t think they bite. Much. ”

[trickstercaptain]

       No matter how many months and years it had been, the notion of winding down after weeks at sea in one of Port Royal’s more upmarket taverns -- ones that were frequently populated by navy officers during their own downtime -- was strange to say the least. Seeing them come and go and not needing to be wary that they recognise him as Captain Teague’s whelp and drag the entire crew of Troubadour into disrepute was even stranger. Here, he was a mostly upstanding, if unimportant, merchant captain, who could go about his business and drink with his crew without an officer so much as turning their head. While the anonymity provided by his unassuming attire ( black tricorn, white shirt, breeches, hair tied back in a simple ponytail ) was liberating, in one sense, it felt oddly oppressive in another.

        However, the unassuming atmosphere of the tavern itself was broken rather abruptly by a ruckus at the door. A tall, flustered, peculiarly dressed man entered the tavern in a frenzy and, as Jack glanced over, he noticed that he appeared to be scanning the dimly lit room in search of someone. As the pair’s eyes met, he saw something that looked like recognition flicker in the stranger’s eyes -- and suddenly he was exclaiming Jack’s name. loudly enough for all of the patrons to hear.

        Did he know him? The man didn’t look familiar in the slightest, and nor was he dressed in the way that sailors normally did, but a twinge of panic still crept up his spine nonetheless. Was this someone that Teague had sent after him, maybe? Though he didn’t look angry or about to inflict injury on him -- in fact, he almost looked pleased to see him, even if the expression was dampened a little by the confusion on Jack’s face.

        Before Jack had a chance to speak, the door to the tavern was flung open again, this time revealing a group of officers, distinguishable immediately by their red coats and bayonets -- which were pointed quickly in the stranger’s ( and Jack’s, presumably as a precaution ) direction. Blinking suddenly at the prospect of having a weapon jabbed in the direction of his face, Jack’s gaze shifted from the navy soldiers to his mysterious new friend’s face and back again, palms slowly raising in a defensive gesture. He slowly got to his feet, aware of the number of eyes that must have now been on the pair. “ I ----- I have no idea who this is. ” For once, he didn’t have to lie when faced with the prospect of getting caught by the law. “ Whatever... it is he’s done, I’m not with him. ”

@talktoten  /  s.c.

[trickstercaptain]

        Jack had always known that command of his first ship would bring its challenges, not least in part due to his youth. He must have been one of the youngest captains currently sailing for the Company, and his prior experiences with Bainbridge had proved the perfect example of how sailors set in their ways could be so resisting of input from those that they not only deemed inferior in age ( and therefore wisdom ), but in social standing, too. Hiding his colourful past was easy enough, but it left a void in its place: here, he had no connections, no family, no history. He came from nowhere, and if there was one thing he’d learned about Britain and its Empire in five years of clean-cut employment, it was that someone like him was bloody lucky to be in charge at all.

       Thankfully, the majority of his new crew had taken to him, with only a few notable exceptions. One in particular was seemingly new to sailing as a whole, and not here out of any love for the vocation or the sea, either. Beckett had mentioned that he was the only son of some wealthy official in the Company, not much younger than him, and he was already starting to live up to the disdainful image Jack had of those with that sort of money. Spoiled was the apt word for it; he'd heard the boy do very little other than complain since he got here, and it was seemingly no different as he headed into the galley to fetch his evening meal to take back to his cabin. Whether he was voicing his disapproval on purpose to irk him or not was difficult to say, but if so then he was about to get the attention he so wanted. “ Dried ship’s biscuit not to your satisfaction, Harrington? ” The galley was mostly empty at this time, but Jack was sure he heard someone snigger behind him. “ Or is it that we’re not serving it to you on gold-plated silverware? ”

@harringtontm  /  s.c

[trickstercaptain]

       “ That can be arranged. ” Jack didn't even miss a beat, the amusement shining even more brightly in his eyes that Harrington had taken the bait. It would perhaps be a little cruel to toy with him like this, particularly in full view of his crew mates ( and knowing how important harmony was if his first command was to go smoothly enough to impress Beckett ). But whether he'd done so intentionally or not, in not slinking away in defeat, Steve had thrown a proverbial gauntlet at Jack's feet. The crew were not only watching their new spoilt rich boy comrade, but their new captain too, no doubt curious to see how Jack's youth —  and inexperience in command —  would continue to affect his style of leadership.

       It was yet another test, and Jack needed to win it. So he squared up with another sly smile. “ I’m terribly sorry we’re not all up to your exacting standards, my lord. ” The mock bow he extended to Steve was maybe a little unnecessary, but still immensely satisfying. A couple more chuckles echoed from behind him. “ What with drinking water being a valuable commodity, would you rather we were all clean or that we didn’t all die of thirst? ” There. Clean and quick. He didn't need to verbally harangue the boy any more than that. Not while he was one of the few men on this crew around the same age ( even if he did come from a completely different world to his own ), and not while he looked so bloody sorry for himself ( even though he was still a spoilt brat ). With a halting glance behind him, Jack took a few steps closer, ducking under a nearby bulkhead. He lowered his voice this time, ensuring that it didn't carry to the handful of crewmen still watching on. “ Is there nothing I can do to help? You look miserable. ”

         harringtontm : HIS FATHER HAD TOLD HIM  before he’d sent him on this wretched endeavor that he would grow accustomed to being at sea.  &  he should know, having spent most of his days in steve’s youth off building his career with the english navy.  but as of yet steve still hadn’t grown used to it at all.  the constant swaying of the deck made him feel a little ill at all times, the unpredictable movements of the tides turning him clumsy, his footing always uncertain.  &  if that were not bad enough,  steve had been fighting a cold for two days, his nose dripping constantly  &  shivers wracking his spine, unable to be soothed away with lukewarm rations  &  threadbare hammocks.  he longed for his feather bed, his sleeping quarters with their own personal fireplace.  but when his lamentations call the attentions of the captain, his wit comes sharp  &  deft, striking before steve can even think to defend himself.  &  all at once, the crew is laughing at him, the captain’s sly smile at the center of them all.                           &  steve feels his face flush, heat spreading over his cheekbones in spite of the chilly sea breeze.  if he were still within the walls of his father’s estate, none of these men would dare to laugh at him so brazenly.  was this what the newly appointed governor harrington wanted his son to learn in his time at sea :  sickness  &  humiliation ?  if so, he could consider the lesson learned.  but his father isn’t here now,  &   steve has no choice but to brace himself as straight as he can  &  face jack,  refusing to let either captain or crew see him slink away in defeat.  ❝ i’d sooner share my sleeping quarters with a sea lion, ❞  he counters, arms crossing stubbornly in front of his chest.  ❝ at least the beast would smell better than some of these men.  i find the personal hygiene standards on this crew rather sorely lacking, captain. ❞